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Sister Magreth Mkenda

“When I saw how Maryknoll Sisters lived together and reached out with love and kindness, especially to women in need, I began to feel attracted to them.”

Sister Magreth made her missionary journey from Tanzania to Maryknoll, NY, to Chicago for formation, and then on to Cochabamba, Bolivia.

Sister Magreth Mkenda was born in Moshi, Tanzania, the ninth of ten children in a family of deep faith and trust in God’s goodness. She completed her pre-college studies at Mkuu Secondary School in Moshi, Tanzania, and then on to Teachers College in Iringa, where she graduated in 1996. It was at this time that she began to observe the ministries of the Maryknoll Sisters.

“When I saw how Maryknoll Sisters lived together and reached out with love and kindness, especially to women in need, I began to feel attracted to them,” Magreth explains.

In 2001 Magreth was formally accepted as a candidate in the Maryknoll Sisters orientation program, and she joined the other new members in their home in Chicago, IL. For the next two years, she studied at Catholic Theological Union.

Sister Magreth made her First Profession of Vows as a Maryknoll Sister on September 4, 2003. Sister Magreth’s first assignment was to Bolivia. She serves in an orphanage for chidren, many of whom have been abandoned or who are children of parents with AIDS.

Before making final vows, she and four other Sisters reunited at Maryknoll to share together their experiences in mission and prepare for their final vows to live the rest of their lives as Maryknoll Sisters. Before returning to Bolivia, Sister Magreth made her final vows on November 7, 2009, in her hometown, Moshi, Tanzania, among her family, friends and Maryknoll Sisters. Mount Kilimanjaro was their backdrop.